There are numerous challenges that present themselves when you are building a clinic in the jungle. Since it is such a remote location, all the materials and supplies have to be transported up the river in a canoe. This includes the 400 bags of concrete that weigh 110lbs each, plus the 66 columns (weighing about 250lbs each) and the cement slabs that make the walls. Just getting the materials to the site is a task in itself. And with it being the end of the summer season, the river level had gotten quite low, making the trip even more difficult and requiring more manual labor to get the boats up the river. And once everything got up the river and out of the boat, it still had to be transported to the site.
Teams of volunteers from Colorado and Canada assisted in the transportation of these materials to the site, as well as the task of clearing the ground and making it level and ready for building. And all of that with just the use of shovels, pick axes, and a lot of sweat and hard work. There is no such thing as a back hoe in these parts!
the health clinic site upon arrival of first volunteer team
digging out rocks from the site
teamwork!
carrying away trees
a HUGE tree that had to be cut down - it took 45 min with a chain saw!
carrying bags of sand & rocks from the river for concrete mixing
carrying the cement panels up from the river to the site
the pile of sand and some of the concrete slabs up at the site
all cleared out and leveled, with some of the columns & panels
a local woman carrying a bag of cement mix up from the river
